Giving away Chronically Vintage’s very own blog award! (And a bounty of thanks for others that I’ve received lately!)

Since beginning Chronically Vintage last spring I’ve been honoured with a score of blog awards. The kindness and generous spirit that has filled the pages of this site never ceases to bring joy to my heart, and I appreciate each and every one of the awards that I receive.

Several times I’ve posted about the accolades Chronically Vintage has gotten, but others have yet to be publicly acknowledged. Before the absolute rush of the winter holiday season besieges us, I want to take a few moments and extend my utmost of deepest thanks to handful of incredibly lovely people who have passed along blogging awards to this site. I cherish each and every one of these awards, the fact that you thought of me when pondering whom to extend them to, and also to those bloggers who have passed along other awards to me before in the past.

Sometimes I’m extended the same award by two (or three, etc) different bloggers, after I’ve already posted about receiving it (the first time). When this is the case, please know that I do not appreciate your own gift of an award any less. Whether I receive an award once or a million times, I enjoy and treasure it exactly the same. This post however is going to focus on blog awards that I’ve not yet written about receiving. To everyone who has ever bestowed an accolade my way, and equally to everybody who visits the humble pages of this blog, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I truly hope that those who presented me with awards won’t mind if I veer away from their “rules” of acceptance a tad. Having thought it over, what I’m going to do is share the awards I’ve gotten below, and then pass along a brand new award that I’ve just designed myself to each of those who have so generously tagged me with an award in the first places, as well as to a handful of my readers whose blogs never fail to fill me with an abundance of inspiration.



{From the sublimely pretty (and always massively informative) pages of Kori's beautiful blog, Blonde Episodes, come her handmade award featuring none other than Marilyn Monroe herself.}



{The Bella Sinclair Award came via the immensely creative Stephanie of Dream Kingdom.}



{Adorned with a very pretty mermaid, the Splash Award from a gift from Kathie and her wonderful blog, My Net Finds.}


{From the elegant, cheerful pages of Simply Colette came the (very chic looking) I Think You’re An Awesome Girl award.}



{A talented fellow photographer and blogger, Yelena (from June Daisies), honoured me with the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.}



{A second gift from the wonderful Kathie of My Net Finds came in the form of the Dragon Loyalty Award.}



{From one the hepest cats in the retro blogging sphere, Keith of the Dino Lounge, comes the Your Blog is Better Than Ice Cream award.}



{Two very lovely ladies, Emma of Emma’s Music and Kori of Blonde Episodes, both presented Chronically Vintage with the Beautiful Blogger Award.}



{And last, but certainly not least, a different duet of fantastic gals (Personalized Sketches and Sentiments, and My Net Finds) brought a dose of happiness my way with the You’re the Sweetest award.}



If your name, or that of your blog, is listed above (as someone who gave me an award) or below, please accept Chronically Vintage’s first ever homemade award. It’s brimming with love and appreciation straight from my heart, for your kindness, friendship, and devoted readership of this site.




A Chockfull of Rants and Raves from
a Thirty-Something Mama

Andi B. Goode

A Red Lipstick

A Vintage Chic

A Vintage Spirit

BonBon Rose

Casey's Elegant Musings

Charming Vintage Recipes

Dad's Dish Retro Blog

Dustjacket Attic

*French Charming*

GirlWhimsy


Golden Girl of the West

Greetz from Tiz

~*Just Add Glitter and Stir*~

Kaleidoscopic Refrains

Kitchen Retro

Le Blog de Stéphanie

Lemondrop Vintage

Leproust Vintage

Madeleine's Wunderkammer

Millie Deel

Miss Matilda

Retro Ways

Some Like it Vintage

Strawberry Koi

The Adventures of GingeyGinge

The Bargain Hunter Extraordinaire

The Call of the Jitterbug Doll

The Frivolous Flapper

This Homemade Life

The life of a twenty-something

Time Machine to the Twenties

Vintage Me

Vixen Vintage

The rules of this award are wonderfully simple. All you have to do, if you so chose, is to accept the award, stick its graphic someplace on your or site (sidebars are great for this) or post about it on your blog, linking the award graphic back to Chronically Vintage. From there on out you’re welcome to pass this award on to as many other blogs that you deem to be Chronically Fantastic!


{Please feel free to use either the larger version of the Chronically Fantastic award graphic, or this handy smaller size, to place on your own blog or website – whichever version you prefer.}


It is never easy to select people to pass along any award to, especially when there are so many top-notch blogs out there, so if you don't see your name in the list above, please don't feel left out. If you've ever visited this site, you are instantly worthy of this award and are welcome to pass it along to yourself!

Scores of thanks again to those who have presented me with awards, as well as to every one of my readers, you all mean the absolute world to me, and truly are, Chronically Fantastic!

A quick good morning wish & scores of thanks!

Happiest of Thursday greetings, my darling readers! I hope that your morning is off to a marvelous start!


{Ensure you begin your day off right with a big bowl of vintage goodness via this adorable 1940s Rice Krispies ad featuring Snap, Crackle and Pop :D Image from Saltycotton’s Flickr stream.}

♥ ♥ ♥

I just wanted to post a quick message to extend my utmost deepest of heartfelt thanks to everyone for your comments on my opera outfit post; you literally brought me to tears with your incredibly sweet, encoring, beautiful words. Thank you so much, everyone, for your phenomenally kind comments; to say they mean the world to me would be an understatement.

As I mentioned briefly on Monday, this week has been a bit of a chaotic one because there was some work being done on our apartment and we (and poor Stella, who we boarded at her vet’s, as tenants weren’t allowed to have animals on the premises while the work was being done due to some harsh chemicals being used) had to vacate the premise for a while (before which we had to pack up quite a lot of stuff so that it wouldn’t be in the way of the work that needed to be done). As such I haven’t been on the computer much in the past few days (I’m actually just logging in now for the first time since Tuesday), and am a bit behind in catching up with not only each of your wonderful comments, but also in visiting your gorgeous blogs. As things stand now my schedule is a little freer as we head into the later part of this week, so I’ll be doing my absolute best to catch up over the next few days.

I also have so much to write about just bursting to jump out of my head and onto this blog! In the very near future (aka, sometime in the next few days) I’m going to be announcing a brand new giveaway contest which will be open to all of my readers wherever you reside in the this world. As well, I want to start a series of posts devoted to vintage Christmas gifts for different types of vintage enthusiasts (think along the lines of those magazine articles that feature pages upon pages of gifts for different types of people on your holiday shopping list like “the avid golfer” or the “eco-chic gal”, neither of those will be categories in my holiday roundup, but I will feature gifts for lots of different kinds of vintage loving folks).
Several other post ideas are simmering on the burners of my mind, so I know that I’ll definitely be a busy blogger as we head into the tail-end of 2009.

Giant thanks again, everybody, for your fantastically sweet comments – not only on Tuesday, but for each post you share your thoughts with me on.

Wishing you all a delightfully terrific Thursday!

Receiving and passing along the You’re a Gem Award

Back during the swelteringly stuffy, meltingly hot dog days of August, a wonderfully dear online friend of mine, Kathie of My Net Finds, bestowed a gorgeous award upon Chronically Vintage, called “You’re a Gem!” that she created herself.

To quote Kathie herself, in terms of what inspired her to design this award, “I made this award for the special bloggers who take the time to not only read my posts, but also leave comments, respond to comments, form blog friendships with and support others, answer blogger questions, etc.....the ones who are a real "gem" in the bloggy world. The bloggy world wouldn't be the same without you!” What beautiful sentiments!

As I feel both Kathie and her site are sparkling gems, I was deeply delighted to receive this award from her. Thank you deeply – with huge hugs – Kathie honey, for dubbing my blog Gem worthy.

I am always touched to my core when I receive a blog award and try my best to pass along the accolades I receive to others as well, in the hopes that they’ll enjoy receiving an award as much as I do.



Unlike many blogging awards, you don’t have to do anything if you find yourself on the receiving end of this one. You are welcome to pass it along to other blogs that you feel are wonderful gems (and post the graphic on your blog, if you’d like), but really this award is just about my appreciate for your awesome site!

The following ten blogs are my award recipients today. Each one of them reminds me of a different rare and precious stone and thus I’ve assigned a gem to the ten blogs I selected, just for fun! As always if your name is not listed below, please, by all means feel free to bestow this accolade upon yourself, my dear!


The Cupcake Diary: Perpetually full of energy and life, this site is run by a lovely Italian gal with a passion for fashion and all things vintage. It continually strikes me as being so upbeat and sunny, yet also very serene at the same time – the same feelings that sapphires, like sparkling pools of water, often stir in me.


Queen of Dreamsz: With her weekly entry devoted to my all-time most favourite colour, pink, this creative, free-spirited outpost of a site calls to mind the sweet, energetic beauty of pink tourmaline.


Strawberry Koi: Timelessly classic, forever in style, and eternally gorgeous, all sentiments that ring true for both pearls and the wondrously pretty posts that fill Strawberry Koi’s blog.


~ *Just Add Glitter and Stir*~: Full of vibrant energy and sporting a page layout that glistens like gemstone dust, this scrapbook and craft centred blog makes me think of rubies every time I stop by.


Fashion After Forty: Dazzling her readers with exciting and beautiful outfits nearly every day, this fashion blogger is such a huge fan of all things turquoise that I now think of her whenever I spot this cheerful, lively hue - or the stone itself.


Lemondrop Vintage: Cheerful and wonderfully fun, this vintage blog pulls inspiration from a slew of decades and always seems so upbeat! Paired with Lemondrop’s name sake fruit and one of the key colours of her blog’s layout, it’s citrine all the way when I think of this site.


Kaleidoscopic Refrains: Much like the effect seen through a kaleidoscopic, opals create a prismastica rainbow effect as you peer at their surface. Thus this colourful stone reminds me of the variable feast of loveliness to be found on this blog.


Andi B. Goode: Telegraphing a sense of femininity and confidence, beauty and passion, amethysts are a gem that always look amazing, just like Andi, the immensely stylish gal behind this vintage centred blog.


Fashion Preserve: Sleek and chic, elegant and timeless, onyx is a mysterious stone that works well in countless stylish situations. It prompts me to think of the wise and wonderful woman behind Fashion preserve, herself a wealth of all manner of great wardrobe related knowledge.


A Vintage Spirit: So often it seems the lovely soul who runs A Vintage Spirit and I share various interests in common, so (and I’m just taking a stab here) I ventured to guess that perhaps she would also adore emeralds, much as I do. Serene and calm, but still full of radiant beauty, this verdant hue reflects the vibe I sense on this great blog.

{Credit for all of the gemstone images above goes to the superb online jewelry retailer - and great source for information regarding a myriad of different stones - Bernadine Fire Art Jewelry. To learn more about a specific stone, please click on the image of it to be taken to its respective page.}


I mean it with the utmost sincerity when I say that everyone who has ever visited, commented on, and been a part of my blog in any way is true, sparkling, priceless gem! To those I did not mention by name above (as well as those I did!), please consider yourself to all be the most brilliant and beautiful of diamonds in my books!

Thank you to everyone who is a part of Chronically Vintage, and huge thanks to Kathie for honouring me with a true gem of an award!

Thank you all for your awesome birthday wishes!

Many a newspaper story from days gone by was concluded with the words, “and a good time was had by all”. I certainly think this sentiment applies to the fantastic 25th birthday that I had on Friday! My special day was made all the more wonderful thanks to the slew of lovely birthday wishes that so many of my dear blogging friends left for me.

Over at “Time Machine to the Twenties”, sweet-as-honey fellow vintage blogger Amanda recently bestowed a charming award upon Chronically Vintage called the Water Cooler Wonders award. As its name implies, sites that are bestowed this award are the type that post content you would want to share and chat about around the water cooler. I’m a huge fan of Amanda’s blog and wanted to continue on her award by passing it along to each of my friends who left comments for me on my birthday themed post.

Thank you so much to the following people, you each get the Water Cooler Wonders award!


{Oodles of thanks, Amanda! For those who'd like to continue passing along this cool award, please save the graphic on your desktop or in your favourite online album, and keep the water cooler love going :)}




GypsyFox (Who made me the most absolutely gorgeous vintage themed birthday graphic! You’re such a dear friend, thank you!!!)

Elena Lu

LandGirlontheHomeFront

Karyn (French Charming)

Glamour Girl

In Company With Sparkles

Keith

MissRedLips

The Glamorous Housewife

That Girl Blogs

Andi B. Goode

Shallow Mallow

Tracey

M

Halloween Spirit

Maggi

MissMatilda

Debby

Sher

Randi

Nora (and the ever-precious Lola!)

Bee and Rose

Marie Lemondrop

Trains and Sewing Machines


Thank you again everyone, my birthday turned out to be really fantastic! Hubby darling spoiled me from sun up to sun down, and I must say I had the best birthday in many years!